Legend of the Purple Dragon: A New Age
by Fire Shallows
Summary: Ten generations have passed and the legend of the purple dragon is all but lost; thought of by most as a mere fairytale. Now with the coming of another purple dragon, the world may be forced to re-discover it. Leaving her life behind, Aura must unravel her own nature, but with civil war brewing and a sinister presence following her every move, she may have her work cut out for her.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Glacia ran.

Exhausted though she was and as much as her lungs burnt, she knew that she mustn't stop.

The dark forest seemed to unfold eternally in front of her, but still she ran through the bushes and streams, leaping over fallen trees and boulders, guided only by what pale beams of moonlight could penetrate the thick canopy, not once even so much as glancing backwards.

Suddenly, piercing shrieks broke out behind her, coaxing Glacia to quicken her pace to a sprint, forcing her already battered and scorched body onwards.

Momentarily she focussed upon the small stream of scarlet blood trickling from her left wing, down her sapphire scales and onto the forest floor. She'd known that it would only be a matter of time before they found her again.

One by one, the cries in the distance came, each time closer and each time more bloodthirsty.

Despite her determination, Glacia knew that she couldn't keep this pace up for much further, and the more she continued to run, the heavier her legs seemed to become; she feared that she may collapse at any second.

Still the screeches came, ever closer and this time Glacia thought that she could even make out actual voices barking commands.

Up ahead Glacia could see a pinpoint of light through the trees and as she hurtled closer, streaks of brown and green shifting by, she realised to her horror that it was a vast opening in the forest, silver moonlight flooding through.

Glacia knew that if she went out there, they would spot her instantly. She wouldn't stand a chance.

Skidding to a halt about 20 yards short of the clearing, she began to panic.

With no quick way around the clearing and voices sounding dangerously near, she thrust herself into the hollow of a nearby tree, breathing heavily through clenched teeth and hoping beyond hope that no-one would find her.

She waited there second by painstaking second, straining her ears to try and hear what was happening.

In the darkness she could hear footsteps marching nearer and nearer, so close that she was almost certain they would catch her. She held her breath as best she could, her lungs still stinging from the chase, until the marching continued onwards towards the clearing and finally she could hear the sound of flapping wings.

Glacia let out a small sigh of relief.

"Wait!" a voice came suddenly from the back of where Glacia had heard the group take off. Glacia's eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut.

"What is it?" another voice replied. It seemed that there weren't many left, perhaps only two or three; Glacia ventured a peek out from the side of the tree. Two dark, cloaked dragon silhouettes stood there, not as far away from her as she would like. Glacia ducked her head back into the hollow and continued to wait.

Slowly, as to not alert the figures outside, she placed the woven basket she had been carrying in her mouth down on the floor and leaned her head over her shoulder to where her wing still bled. She was in no condition to be flying, at least not for very long, but she was running out of options. Picking up the basket once more, she prepared for what was to come.

"Are you sure?" came the second voice again.

"Certain," replied the first, "She's definitely here". Both voices were gruff and callous. They were now moving around seemingly at random.

"But the captain's already moved on, even if she is here, shouldn't we just leave her? It's not like she can turn back, can she?"

What did he mean; she couldn't turn back? Glacia was very confused. Was it starting to get hotter?

"No, she's carrying something very delicate and very important, we can't run the risk of it being burnt up and neither can she".

Burnt up!? Glacia caught a glimpse of flickering orange out of the corner of her eye and grimly she realised what they had done.

"Isn't that right, girly?" the first continued, this time addressing her directly. "Just give us what we want and we'll let you go. No-one needs to be hurt any more than they already have been".

Glacia was panicking again. It would be just like the village all over again. Fire and death.

They didn't know where she was yet, but in a few moments that wouldn't matter.

The second dragon didn't seem too impressed by the first's antics.

"Well, you can keep talking to yourself back here to your heart's content, I'm gonna head back to the rest of the group before I get court-marshalled.

Glacia could hear wings flapping and then the second dragon was gone.

Only one left, good, she thought, though in truth it didn't make her feel much better. The flares of the dying forest were so bright now that she could see out of her hiding spot as if it were almost daylight.

Still the first dragon loomed, ever persistent.

"Peh! I don't need backup to kill a weakling like you!"

He was almost certainly right; even in good physical condition, using her element would be an impossibility whilst holding the basket. She only had one choice.

Just as her pursuer's hooded head slid into view through the tree's hollow, Glacia threw herself forward, whipping her tail around in a circle so that its diamond shaped white blade connected powerfully with the surprised dragon's face, knocking him to the ground.

Landing on her feet, Glacia broke into a sprint, heading for the clearing, but just before she could reach it, a huge weight collided abruptly with her back, crushing her painfully to the forest floor and making her lose grip on the basket, which bounced and rolled out in front of her.

The dragon she had knocked down had recovered far more quickly than she had anticipated and now his attention turned to the basket. Leaping towards it with intent, the cloaked dragon took his weight off of Glacia.

He thought that he'd make a quick escape with the basket, but he'd underestimated her and seeing her chance, Glacia jumped to her feet and charged at him, releasing a short burst of ice from her maw. It wasn't much, but it staggered the dragon long enough to allow her to catch up with him, broad-siding him and tackling him to the ground once more, knocking back his hood to reveal his blood red scales.

Unfortunately for Glacia, in these close quarters, she was easily overpowered and the now unhooded dragon wrestled her around so that he was on top of her, pinning her in position. Glacia squirmed and writhed to break free, but the grip was vice-like; this time the red dragon was going to make sure that she was out of the picture before going after the basket.

Raising one paw, the dragon went for Glacia's neck, slamming his claws down and slashing three parallel lines through her scales.

Glacia wailed in agony. At this point, it probably didn't matter if anyone heard her.

The red dragon struck again, this time with a hard butt to the head with the front of his jagged horns. Glacia lost her focus and went limp, her head flopping sideways, leaving her neck wide open.

As her aggressor readied the final blow, Glacia saw something glowing in the sky through the clearing, getting larger and larger, a large ball of blinding light coming straight for her like a falling star.

For Glacia, time seemed to slow down as the red dragon's claws sliced through the air, hovering moments away from her doom.

A split second before the talons connected, a blur of fiery orange came streaking over Glacia, smashing straight into the red dragon, sending him careering off down the forest path with it.

Glacia rolled to her feet and took shaky steps towards the basket, grasping it in her mouth upon reaching it.

Only then did she turn around and for the first time face the blazing inferno that had followed in her wake.

In front of her stood a colossal wall of flames, steadily approaching, destroying all in its path... and mere metres away from it two figures clashed, silhouetted against the fire, wrestling and slashing each other. Glacia just stood there, still dazed from the blow to her head as the fire crept closer.

After the initial collision, it was clear that one of the figures had the upper hand on their opponent, staying on top in a dominant position, laying a constant stream of strikes down upon the other until with one final triumphant blow from above, the figure beneath flopped in defeat.

The victorious figure rose and despite still being darkened by the contrast of the flames behind them, Glacia could tell that their focus had now shifted to her. Finally regaining her senses, Glacia began to turn tail and flee until she heard a voice from behind her.

"Glacia!" the cry came. The voice was a familiar one, one that she could remember hearing almost every day for as long as she could remember.

"Char!" Glacia exclaimed and as the figure ran towards her, she too ran towards him until the figure became a tall, orange-scaled dragon.

Upon reaching each other, the reunited dragon and dragoness embraced each other warmly, each resting their neck against the other's shoulder, Glacia's pearl white chest scales brushing against Char's own ebony black.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Glacia breathed, almost in tears. Breaking from the hold, Char looked deeply into her cerulean eyes.

"Neither did I," he replied. "After we were separated, I tried to hold them off and buy you some time, but there were too many of them and the majority of the march got around me. I kept low behind them and followed them in the hopes that they would lead me to you" he smiled "And here you are".

Char's eyes glanced over Glacia's body, finding it hard to fully take in her presence. After a few moments they settled upon her wounded wing and bloodied neck; here the corners of Char's mouth fell to a frown.

"You're hurt," he said, the concern clear in his voice.

"It's just a scratch," Glacia replied.

"It certainly doesn't look like "just a scratch" to me!" Char retorted.

With both Char and Glacia occupied, both were oblivious to the quiet coughs and chokes coming from the blood-red dragon lying mere feet in front of the encroaching wall of flames. The heat was shearing and the light like daggers in his eyes.

_So this is how I die_, the dragon thought as the flames began to eat at his side.

_Well if I'm going to die, I'm sure as heck not going alone!_

And with his final, dying breath, the dragon arched his back and let out a deafening screech that sent red ripples piercing through the air.

Glacia's and Char's heads swivelled to face the noise just as the wave hit, sending shocks of pain through their bodies and rooting them in position, contracting their muscles and forcing them to clench their eyes closed at the sheer pitch and volume of the scream.

As the screech ended, the fear dragon fell for the last time to the floor. His eyes closing as the fire consumed him.

As their bodies became free to them once more, Glacia and Char fixed each other with serious, worried looks.

"Can you fly?" Char asked quickly.

"I think so," replied Glacia, flexing her injured wing.

"Good, you'll have to go north from now on, we're surrounded on every other side. It's not ideal, but the plan will have to change; you'll have to try and find some kind of settlement in the mountains instead."

In the distance, another screech could be heard in reply to the now departed dragon's call. They were coming back.

Glacia nodded. "What about you?" she asked.

Char's face suddenly grew steely and unemotional. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can and try to lead them away from you."

Glacia grew slightly angry at this answer. "You only just got here and now you're going to leave? There's practically an entire army out there, you can't possibly do that on your own!" she exclaimed.

"I know, but at this point I'm not the important one. It's essential that you reach somewhere safe. For all of our sakes," Char's face was one of pleading. Glacia knew that he was right and turning her head away she admitted defeat.

The screeches were becoming regular again, but from several locations this time.

Char took off first, flapping his wings against the ground and taking to the air, speeding out into the clearing. Glacia was close to follow. Scooping up the basket this time in one of her free claws, she unfurled her wings and leapt into the sky, emerging from the top of the canopy just as the flames engulfed her previous position. Her wing ached and stung mightily under her weight, but she would be fine for now.

In the sky, Glacia could see dozens of tiny black dots coming over a hill from the direction that she had been running.

Char swooped back around and came up in front of her. Staring into each other's eyes, both knew that this would be the last time they would see each other again.

"Goodbye, Glacia," Char said calmly to her. The air seemed quite still at that point and it seemed as though all sound other than his voice was drained away.

"It was wonderful to have gotten to see you again one last time," even the crackling forest fire and the screeches of nearing pursuers seemed to be gone, in a far off world that Glacia was no longer in. Char smiled finally before turning away.

"Try not to get in any more trouble," and with that he was gone, gliding onwards towards now innumerable figures. With him still in hearing range, Glacia could only say one thing.

"I love you," she said, not in a cry, but just so loud that she knew Char could hear her. Char continued flying. Glacia knew that he wouldn't react or turn around again. That was just his way. Char would keep staring forwards at his oncoming destruction, in the hopes that Glacia might remember him without tears in his eyes.

Turning to the northern mountains and flying on her own way as fast as she was able, Glacia noticed wet lines streaking down her face.

XXX

It had been five days now since Glacia had begun her trek through the mountains. She had endured frigid gales and thick, blinding blizzards that buffeted her dangerously, threatening to push her off of peaks and ledges and down to her doom. For five days she had struggled up increasingly treacherous paths and passes, through temperatures so cold that even as an ice dragon, she could no longer feel her legs or wings and she shivered constantly; all that time without food, or any sign of civilisation whatsoever and still she kept the woven basket close to her, doing her best to stop it from freezing or falling away out of her reach. For the first three days, she had seen patrols in the sky, circling above. Either they hadn't seen her or they considered it too dangerous to follow. Either way, after the third day the patrols had stopped. They probably thought she was dead.

_In a few moments they might be right_, thought Glacia. By now she had been turned around dozens of times and was completely and hopelessly lost. Ever since she had reached the mountains, her injured wing had been completely useless. The strain she had put on it on the way there had been far too great and with no kind of medical attention, the slashes on her neck hadn't healed up well either and left an unhealthy looking black and dark green mark over the cuts.

Glacia was feeling very light headed as she stepped over the icy crag. Her body dragged close to the floor and Glacia was about to collapse there in the snow, however as the blizzard began to thin out, she saw something in the distance.

A pale glowing light, alone and hardly visible through the onslaught of snow, but it was definitely there. Glacia half ran, half tumbled down the slope, sustaining several painful knocks, but still Glacia continued on with the last of her determination.

As she got closer, the light became a lantern hanging in the distance, two of them, hanging either side of a tall wooden gate. Glacia sped up and as she stumbled onwards, shapes beyond and over the gate began to come into view. She couldn't believe what she could see; an entire village of wooden cabins and stone houses built on a large flat cutaway of the mountain, with some dwellings even built into openings in the rock walls, spider webs of platforms and stairways leading between each.

As Glacia shuffled at the greatest speed she could manage towards the wooden gated wall that stood in the pass between the rocks, presumably acting as some kind of protection from the harsh winds, she began to hear muffled, quiet voices from the other side.

"Hello!?" Glacia cried at the top of her lungs that burnt from the cold air.

The voices suddenly became confused and surprised, followed by the sound of creaking stairs and a golden-brown dragon head peeking over the top of the wall, eyes squinting towards Glacia's general direction. When his eyes focussed upon her, his brows rose high, his eyes becoming wide with shock and his jaw dropping. The dragon head quickly receded back over the wall and now Glacia was close enough to just hear what they were saying in over the howling wind.

"What do you mean there's someone out there?" came one voice.

"I mean exactly that!" said another, presumably the golden-brown dragon.

There was a slight pause after this.

"Well, go get master Gravidus out here, he'll know what to do."

XXX

Master Gravidus had been awoken in the early hours of the morning to the sound of hasty knocking on the door. Getting up drowsily and wondering what could possibly have happened that demanded his attention so greatly that it couldn't wait until he had at least had breakfast, he opened the door and peered out. It was the middle of winter and the snow was falling as heavily as ever. The lower plains and southern cities wouldn't be getting it nearly as bad, perhaps just a chilly breeze or an inch or two of snow at the most, though colder weather did come with some advantages; master Gravidus had only just been getting used to late mornings.

A young ice dragon greeted him, with a somewhat troubled look on his face.

"Ah, young Permin," Gravidus greeted him wearily. "And to what do I owe the pleasure this _fine_ morning?"

"Well, er, sir, master that is, it's just that there's someone at the gates," Permin stammered.

Gravidus' eyes grew wide from his drowsy stupor and he was suddenly very awake.

"The gates?" Gravidus exclaimed. "Which ones?"

"The… north-western gates, sir" Permin replied awkwardly. He had never quite figured out how to properly address the strangely young master. "A dragoness, sir," he finished.

Gravidus was just as surprised as he should have been. No one ever came from the north-western gates.

"Well by the Ancestors, let her in!" Gravidus responded, walking briskly out of the warmth of his home and dragging the ice dragon with him.

"Come along now, Permin… say, what exactly were you doing out at the gates at this hour?" The response was silence. "Not sneaking out, were you?" Gravidus demanded.

"No, sir," Permin hastily replied.

"Good. We have rules for a reason."

The gates creaked slowly open, shards of ice snapping from the scarcely moved wooden walls. Glacia leaned forwards with all of her remaining strength; her shivering had stopped, but she felt colder than ever. With one final pull from the two young dragons operating the mechanism, the gates swung freely open and Glacia, losing her support, tumbled forwards through them, collapsing weakly on the frosted ground.

Glacia's vision blurred, the dark edges around her skewing inward, making it seem like she was viewing the faces of the dragons that rushed towards her through the end of a long black tunnel. Their voices blurted in unison, "_Hello? Can you hear me? Who is she? Can she walk? Help, Someone get a healer! Who are you?_" but Glacia was too tired to understand them, even to separate one from another.

So tired.

And the world was suddenly serene. Clear of thought. Clear of doubt.

Glacia reached out.

Gravidus felt the paw on his chest and looked back down at the fallen dragoness from where he had been calling for someone to help him carry her.

Their eyes locked; hers cerulean blue, his pale yellow.

And she smiled, a thin, cracked-lip, but warmth-filled smile.

Glacia would say one last thing before she slept:

"Her name is Aura."

"No," Gravidus whispered in disbelief as Glacia slumped sideways, revealing a small, cloth covered wicker basket.

And then she slept. A restful sleep. A welcoming embrace, beneath a blanket of nothingness. Happy memories floated through her consciousness; her home-town, trips down to the river on bright summer's days, laughing, smiling faces... and Char.

For a moment, she considered how bittersweet it seemed and how much she'd give to go back to those days, until the moment was gone and all thoughts descended into oblivion.

Gravidus edged towards the basket, carefully removing the dragoness' lifeless claws. He slowly peeled back the red cloth slowly, until he was forced to look away, the tears budding in his eyes from discovering exactly what he feared he would.

Nestled in the basket, curled up closed eye amongst bundles of woollen fabric, lay a tiny purple and white Dragoness.

Months later, when the harshness of winter died away, retreating north to its frozen keep in the mountains, the hatchling would recover completely beneath the watch of Gravidus, full of health and ready to begin the new age.

XXX

_A/N: Thank you for reading my first chapter, quite a few mysteries to be solved here, eh?_

_Huge props to Telekinetic Moose for being my beta reader and for talking with me about the ideas in my story._

_For those interested, TM is also writing his own Spyro Fic, called The Legend of Spyro: the Dawn of Hope which is looking really good so far._

_Reviews are very much appreciated; please tell me what you thought of the Prologue! What did I do well with? What was absolutely terrible? I haven't really got much of a schedule here, so your guess is as good as mine as to when the next chapter comes out. The next chapter will be titled "Forgotten"._

_I don't own Spyro (although if I did, I'm fairly certain Skylanders wouldn't exist) yadda yadda, copyright and such. See you next time!_


	2. Forgotten

**Chapter 1: **

Aura ran.

She was going to be late.

Although she and Master Gravidus lived beneath the same roof, as a de-facto leader of Eiraton, the earth dragon had a great deal of responsibilities put upon him and would often leave hours before Aura even woke at all.

Aura dashed around a corner and her paws crunched on freshly fallen snow, kicking up flaky residue that streaked along her purple scaled sides and smacked against her white segmented underside.

This day in particular Aura had been enjoying the comfort and warmth of her pillows a little too much and by the time she had dragged herself away it was already mid-morning. Her stomach growled. She'd skipped breakfast.

Gravidus had requested she meet him even earlier than usual today, so there must be something important happening and Aura didn't wish for this to be the time that she let him down; he had a kind soul, but he made his expectations very clear.

Diving down rickety stairways and dodging dragons with fleeting apologies as they swept away the first of the year's snowstorms, Aura came close to her objective; she just might make it, but only if…

She skidded to a halt at the edge of one of the town's many wooden walkways.

Originally, Eiraton had been a mining village with primarily mole inhabitants, Miss Snout had told her; built on the mountainside for its rich supplies of minerals and masonry stone that would then be winched down the mountainside and delivered to carts at the bottom.

This meant that when the mining equipment had been removed many years ago, there had been left a sprawling maze of caverns and tunnels stretching deep into the town's roots; one of such tunnels, Aura was now standing over, peering into the darkness beneath.

Aura had spent much of her hatchlinghood exploring and playing in these underground passages to the extent that she knew them and their many junctions off by heart, but it had been so long since she had last been down there; would she still even fit?

Still, she had to try. The only other way to the town centre was to travel around the whole edge of the perimeter, following the cliff-face.

Not for the first time did Aura wonder why Gravidus' house was built so close to the rear gate, where none ever entered or left and not closer to the centre, where people needed him the most.

Tucking her pale white wings tightly to her taut, slender body to fit through the small gap, Aura threw all caution to the wind, jumped into the air with a flip and dived head first into the pothole, her pearly upwards hooking horns just clearing the entrance, hoping above all else that the snow-clearers had been doing their job.

XXX

Master Gravidus stood at the entrance to Eiraton's town centre, a huge cavern carved into the south-facing rockside, opening out to a sizeable ledge that followed the contours of the mountain, upon which most of Eiraton led. Inside the cavern, many buildings were set into the stone; shops and homes (and quite often both at once) all now closed and locked to make way for the coming winter. The cavern was close to the transport cranes used to get up and down the mountain and when the warm weather returned once more, small travelling market stalls would set up shop throughout the expansive black-marbled floor, selling all sorts of exotic foods, strange devices and books that told tales of far away lands.

As it stood, the town square was a cold and desolate looking place, its monolithic supporting column of stalagmitic rock towering lonesomely in its middle.

Gravidus shivered and cursed his aching bones.

"Ancestors help me, I'm old before my time," he muttered to himself and gazed back over the eastern mountain range to see the sun climbing dutifully along its allotted course, still with no sign of Aura.

The copper scaled dragon was just early of middle-aged, and in many ways his appearance was that of a typical earth dragon; his muscle-bound shoulders gave way to hardened grey protrusions that ran down his back, complimenting the heavy onyx plates of his chest and belly. Rather than being cumbersome, though, he carried himself in a way that suggested subtle regality, somewhat exemplified by the craggy grey horns that adorned his head.

He sighed as the time reached that of which he had asked Aura to meet him there.

"_THUMP"_

From behind him, Gravidus heard the sound of muffled impact and he turned to see Aura hastily picking herself up from a pile of snow.

"Ah, Aura," Gravidus called cheerfully; "Exactly on time as always I see".

XXX

"...and I'm not sure what we're going to do with it all," Gravidus finished.

He had just finished telling Aura about how Gillyan had been so happy about him helping to treat her son's torn wing (which he had acquired playing with his brother on some damaged mining equipment, something which Gillyan had been sure to make clear to them, that they would never do again) that she had insisted Gravidus take a whole crate of one of her newly imported saltwater fish, "tuna", which thanks to the new railway lines could finally be brought all the way from the southern sea without spoiling.

Aura laughed; "A whole crate, huh? I suppose you'll have to invite her around for dinner one of these days."

With this, Aura cracked a sly grin and added with a wink "I can tell she likes you."

Gravidus raised an eyeridge, looking down at Aura out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, really?" he replied deadpan. "Then I suppose her other half will be devastated."

"True love knows no bounds, young one!" Aura toyed, purposefully imitating the title her master often gave her. "Brush aside this interloper and claim your soul mate!"

At this point, Aura threw herself melodramatically to Gravidus' side, raising a paw daintily to her brow in a feigned swoon.

"Then I'll make sure to invite Agni too, I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about," Gravidus teased back, the edges of his mouth turning up slightly.

Aura scowled, a tinge of red entering her cheeks.

"Come on, I was only kidding," she conceded, "Besides, if you're going to tease me, you could at least stay current. I haven't had a crush on Agni since I was a hatchling." Aura hummed for a moment. "Agni used to be so much nicer before he started hanging around with Solenoi."

They had continued but a few minutes before Gravidus spoke again;

"You are most likely wondering why it is that I brought you out here so early."

Aura nodded in confirmation, listening intently.

"It is because now may be the last chance I get to show you what I am about to for a long time. Last night I received a letter from an old friend in Temple City requesting assistance. I must leave for there at midday and you must stay here."

Aura's eyes widened in sudden shock and confusion.

"_Today_ midday?" she exclaimed.

"Today," replied Gravidus plainly.

Aura's mind filled with questions and she soon struggled with attempting to vocalise all of them at once.

"Why so soon? Couldn't it wait a day at least? How long will you be gone? Who is this "friend" anyway? What-" Gravidus cut her off before she could continue and continued to speak in his usual slow and deliberate voice.

"Aura dear, calm down. I know that you are worried about being on your own, but you're practically a young dragoness now; it's high time you started acting more independently. I'm not going to be around forever you know."

Aura grumbled at this and ruffled her white-membraned wings slightly in irritation. Although it was true that Aura didn't see Gravidus for the majority of most days, it was usually enough just to know that he was there. He had never really left her, or the village in her lifetime and when he did, it was never for very long, and Temple City was so very far away.

"I know, it's just... could I at least know a little more about exactly what it is you'll be doing down there?"

"All I can tell you is that I'll be staying there for quite some time; as long as it takes to resolve this problem. Solumon will still be here and you can continue your other lessons as usual after today. If something disastrous does happen and the village truly needs me, although I am almost certain it will not, you can contact me through a dragon by the name of Dusk in the city."

Solumon would still be here, what a comforting thought. If Aura could roll her eyes in her thoughts, that was most certainly what she would be doing.

"Okay," pondered Aura. "That's still not very descriptive in terms of why you actually need to go there in the first place."

"It wasn't a very descriptive letter," replied Gravidus shortly.

Aura was a little hurt that whatever it was that Gravidus was keeping from her, he wouldn't trust her with it. She hated it when Gravidus withheld things from her, especially considering his openness in almost every other situation, which made occasions where he did all the more aggravating. She wasn't happy with this answer, but she knew that she was unlikely to get anything more from him and, for now at least, let it slide.

A few minutes passed in silence as they traipsed down the icy stone pathway towards the eastern side of the village, the space between the tip-tapping of their talons filled only by the sound of distant wind. Gravidus craned his neck to the right a little so that he could properly see Aura. Her face seemed vacant and her eyes stared forward, her wings draping down over her sides as she walked.

"...Is there something the matter?" Gravidus asked, a hint of concern clear in his tone. "I hope you're not so worried as that about being on your own for a while."

Aura took a moment to gaze down at her paws and their purple scales that shimmered with the pale winter light, before letting her magenta eyes meet Gravidus' for a moment to make sure that he knew she had been listening.

"No, it's not about that... but it did bring something back to mind," she replied somewhat hesitantly.

"Pray tell, young one," Gravidus invited with a warm smile, "what's on your mind? It's not good to keep things bottled up."

"Well," Aura began slowly, "I'm... not sure. I've been feeling it all day, but I guess I was trying not to think about it. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It's not really any one thing in particular, something just seems off; like the calm before a snowstorm... like something's about to... happen."

"And what do you think could happen, Aura?" Gravidus enquired.

"I don't know, and it may seem silly, but it's the not knowing that's bothering me. If I could just tell what it was, maybe I could do something. As it is, I just feel... helpless." At this point, Aura retracted her gaze and went back to staring ahead at the path they continued to navigate, watching passively as white-topped roof after white-topped roof slipped by. Gravidus hummed a long, deliberate note as though he were weighing a decision carefully in his head.

"You have good instincts, child, and one I'm sure that one day they will be most useful to you. For now though, allow me to give you some advice; do not let what you can't know trouble you. None of us can control every aspect of our future. All we can hope to do is to make the best choice we can with what we are given. I am confident that when the time comes, whatever choice you make will be the right one."

Gravidus gently poked the bottom of Aura's chin with the back of his fore-claw, prompting her to look up again, into his grinning face.

"So until you know what to worry about, don't bother worrying at all."

Aura couldn't help but smile back, but in the back of her mind, something still itched.

They continued on the frosted road east, past more and more houses, past the diligently sweeping villagers and their mounds of snow, Gravidus occasionally peeking over at Aura, as if searching for a reaction to the information he had just imparted, trying to tell if it was what Aura had been so apprehensive of. This was a question to which Aura herself did not know the answer.

Finally reaching the top of a winding, narrow, dug out staircase, Aura paused, realising how far they had travelled from the rest of the village. They passed through a heavy log door that almost blended into the rest of the wall and yet they continued on.

"Where are we going, Gravidus?" Aura inquired in a mildly confused tone. "We've already passed the whole village."

Gravidus raised a single brow at her as they began their descent.

"Not quite all of it," he replied, the traces of a grin visible on his face.

Their claws skittered along the frosted stone steps and Aura glanced downwards to find to her surprise that they were still just within the timber walls that surrounded the village. Aura knew Eiraton very well; probably better than anyone, or so she had thought. And yet here was a place she had never been, as Gravidus had pointed out, still within the walls. This day was getting peculiar quickly.

Eventually the path flattened out, coming to a wide opening, into which Gravidus and Aura stepped.

The purple dragoness surveyed the desolate scene that befell her eyes.

Strewn all about the wide inset ledge were pieces of wooden debris; drooping and collapsed shacks, empty carts with disjointed wheels and and antique mining tools with snapped and splintered handles among other things, too broken even to recognise. Colossal stalagmites of ice reached from the snowy ground, entirely encasing many of the derelict sheds. Clearly this place had been abandoned for a long time.

Aura refrained from stepping forward, even as Gravidus began to make his way through the wreckage.

"Why haven't I been here before?" Aura murmured, half to herself.

"You wouldn't have had reason to," Gravidus replied, turning back to her. Noticing her hesitation, he urged her forwards.

"It's just an old mining site," he continued. "There's no reason to worry."

Aura proceeded cautiously, placing each paw with care as if the sorry pieces of wood might suddenly spring to life.

The pair paced through the remnants, Aura's eyes dancing every which way around their surroundings, until they reached an alcove in the back wall that twisted to the left to meet a dark, flat slab of a wall, which stood completely flat in stark contrast to the craggy stone and chipped wood around it. It had an almost mirror-like quality, the frosted reflection of its surroundings betraying a hint of its metallicness.

The lower half of the ebon protrusion was completely covered with the frozen ruins of what appeared to be a small shack, its original purpose unidentifiable.

"Stand back," Gravidus instructed, easing his way slowly into a position with his legs bent and his feet set wide beneath his body, rooting him to the ground in what Aura easily identified as a classic Earth Dragon Stance.

Aura stepped back a fair distance and watched, quietly wondering what her master meant to accomplish.

Gravidus took a deep breath, raising his front right paw as he inhaled, holding it hovering above the ground for several seconds before slamming it down again with a sharp exhalation, dropping the weight of his body through the limb.

The collapsed shack exploded as a large column of rock shot from the ground, impaling it through the middle and sending shrapnel flying in a perfect semicircle around the slab, before receding back into the ground, leaving the path to the wall clear.

"Looks like you've still got it in you, master Gravidus," said Aura, admiring the precision of the strike with awe.

"Indeed. To be honest, after all this time I'm quite glad I didn't accidentally collapse the whole mountain!" replied Gravidus, smirking a little at the distressed look the comment elicited from Aura.

"Well, let's get going, shall we?" he continued, walking suddenly towards the black wall, leaving Aura to catch up.

They stopped just within paw's reach and stood there for a moment whilst Gravidus seemed to ponder something.

"Ooookay," expressed Aura confusedly. "What's so great about this wall?"

Gravidus didn't respond, but his face lit up with recollection.

"Ah, I remember, it was three swipes left, one circle right and two flicks up and down," he listed, using his right paw to enact each motion upon the wall's surface as he said them.

Finally, he placed the palm of his brownish paw against the wall and with a pale blue light, intricate patterns appeared upon it in the general shape of a circle with three smaller circles intersecting it at equal intervals along its circumference, with another circle directly at its centre, where Gravidus had placed his paw. The patterns then swirled and dissipated, a split appearing down the centre of the black surface, revealing it to actually be a set of doors which slid almost frictionlessly to either side, uncovering a dark passageway behind them.

"Okay, now I know you're messing with me," Aura stated, frowning in apprehension. "What could there possibly be in Eiraton that needs an enchanted seal protecting it?"

Gravidus' mouth cracked an amused little smile, one that annoyed Aura to no end. It was the same one he used when he'd just told a terrible joke (all of Gravidus' jokes were terrible).

"Why Aura," Gravidus exclaimed in mock astonishment, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to ruin my wonderful surprise!"

The purple dragoness stared blankly into her master's twinkling eyes. And Gravidus conceded.

"The enchanted seal is merely a coincidence to what we're actually here for. When moles dig mine shafts, they use enchanted seals to block off shafts containing hazards, such as pockets of natural gas or other explosive materials of their own design."

Aura raised an eyeridge.

"Explosives?"

Gravidus nodded, stepping into the darkness.

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine by now. Any explosives they left lying around will most definitely have spoiled in the damp. Maybe you should pay more attention in Ms Snout's classes."

Aura sighed, following the earth dragon into the tunnel.

"Unlike someone I know, I actually pay attention in my classes, but we're far too busy with learning things like "how the cheetah tribes act as vassals to the dragon council" to be studying anything as interesting or relevant as the moles' explosives."

Aura continued in a mildly exasperated tone.

"I don't see the point in learning things –and I am learning them nonetheless– that I'm never going to use. I'm told all this stuff about the world outside Eiraton, but all I want to do is stay here and help the town like you've been doing."

"You should try to keep an open mind, young one. Just because that's what you want now doesn't mean you'll be content with that forever. You know before I came to this village I used to be a soldier jus-" Gravidus began, but was cut off by Aura.

"Just like your father and his father and his father before him," the dragoness chuckled, "yeah, I get it, Gravidus."

Gravidus smiled down at her.

"Well the point is, don't put all your eggs in one temple."

"Mhmm," Aura agreed, squinting to see ahead "Hey, it's getting pretty dark in here, how are we supposed to see where we're going?"

Right on cue, a metal plate on the otherwise stone floor sunk down beneath Aura's paw, making her start in surprise. A short clicking noise echoed faintly through the passage and all around the two dragons, orange flames burst to life behind the glass of lanterns embedded in the walls.

Just ahead of them stood a wide rectangular platform that shone a dull bronze in the orange light. Long chains plated to each corner ascended to a cylindrical reel above, making it clearly a kind of elevator.

"Wow," commented Aura, "I've never seen a mine in such good condition before! You really wouldn't have thought it looking at the entrance to this place."

Gravidus nodded knowingly as they stepped onto the platform, their paws clanging with each step.

"Indeed, it's likely that is the very reason this mine is in such fine repair, since none have been here to tear it down." Gravidus replied, using his tail, with its hammer-like end to pull a wall mounted bronze lever. A great rattling could be heard above, dust and stone cascading down upon the two dragons, before gears whirred into life and the platform jerked down causing Aura to jump a little in fright, however the ride smoothed out and before long they were descending at a steady rate.

Overall the temperature in the mine was far more pleasant than the wintry chill outside, but as the elevator lowered further and further, Aura could feel the air getting colder and colder. The elevator dropped for what seemed like minutes, the sound of rattling chains around their pulley growing faint and the light growing so dim, she could scarcely see the breath condensing in front of her face. Eventually the platform clunked to a halt and Gravidus stepped from the platform, crouching down to fiddle with something Aura couldn't make out. A gradual yellowish light began emanating from before the bronzen dragon and he stood once more, holding a small lantern from the thumb of his left wing. In the new light, Aura could see what looked to be an arched doorway constructed from huge blocks of a pink granite-like stone. Above it, more blocks climbed the wall of the expansive cavern they now occupied. The rock to either of the sides of the door didn't connect smoothly to the structure, but rather consisted of jagged protrusions pointing inwards as if the wall had been broken through. Besides this, nothing in the cavern was particularly notable save for its sheer size; Aura could only guess at how large it actually was, as every other direction she looked swallowed up the lame lamplight, the rays splashing upon the craggy floor before petering out into darkness.

"Come this way," Gravidus said, breaking the silence and gesturing towards the door. "It's through here."

Aura nodded and the two entered the building, Aura sticking close to her master's side to take as much advantage of the light as possible.

The inside was in ruin. Fallen blocks and tiles littered the floor, the walls and ceiling bulging as though they were the very pillars that held the world aloft. Damp, musty smelling air filled Aura's nostrils, the newly arisen dust that plumed from her every pawstep causing her to stifle a sneeze. It was more clear than ever that none had set foot in this place for quite some time. The two continued walking, into and out of several more rooms of a similar calibre until they passed through a crooked doorway, its arch almost completely crumbled and finally into a grand room, large enough that the artificial light failed to stretch far enough to illuminate even a fraction of its cold slabbed flooring.

Here Gravidus instructed the purple dragoness to wait as he went about lighting several sconces around the perimeter, opening up the small hatch on the side of the lantern to allow the flame to catch.

Of all the rooms Aura had seen of the ruin yet, this one seemed by far the most in-tact, the swirling patterns that adorned the tiles and walls, though covered in thick dust, were still clearly visible and the tiles themselves went non-displaced throughout, the grout between them holding fast, the solid looking arches that ran from the chamber's base to its heights remaining firmly rooted.

This was of course, until she realised that half of it was missing.

Gravidus had only set light to the sconces down the wall to the right and as Aura peered into the darkness to the left, she discovered that it was not just the darkness of light failing to reach the far side of the chamber, but that of an abyssal pit which the floor gave way to abruptly, cutting several sets of tiles cleanly in two, though the sides that had been cut off were nowhere to be found. The gaping hole made her uneasy and despite her wings, she wished whatever moles had been down here had taken the time to fit a guard rail.

The whole look of the place was decidedly alien to the young dragoness. The colossal bricks that made up the walls and the carefully measured angles between each stone in the arches had clearly taken great skill to build and belonged not in the ramshackle timber town of Eiraton. Nor did its robust and practical squareness belong with the flamboyant and artistic architecture Aura had seen in paintings of the seven great cities, yet what the ruins lacked in structural beauty, it seemed to make up for in the unique swirling patterns that covered every surface.

She could not place any of it.

Gravidus lit the final torch and beckoned Aura over to something that twinkled in the flickering light. By the time she'd made her way over to it, Gravidus had placed the lantern at his feet, illuminating the back wall. She gasped at what she saw.

Mounted there in carved and chiselled borders of black stone, reaching perhaps fifteen feet upwards, was a mosaic of brightly reflecting gemstones; blue sapphire, orange topaz, white quartz, but more importantly to Aura, purple amethyst. Although half of the illustration was missing, cut off by the chasm that dominated a large section of the whole room, these embedded stones made up what was clearly half the visage of a purple dragon. The orangey topaz made up his underbelly and irises, whilst three large curving quartz horns adorned his head like a crown, with smaller ones poking out here and there. The wings and lower part of the body were obscured.

Beneath the colourful mosaic were several lines of an unknown runic text, once again with half of the passage lost to blackness.

"Gravidus, is this what I think it is?" Aura asked excitedly.

"That depends," replied Gravidus reservedly. "What _do_ you think it is?"

Aura kept her eyes on the portrait, scanning it thoroughly for any more clues.

"Well to me it looks like proof of the existence of other purple dragons like me," Aura stated.

Gravidus laughed, "Don't you think that's a bit of an assumption, Aura?"

"Definitely, but it's exactly what you wanted me to say, isn't it?" said Aura, smiling knowingly.

"Haha, well I can't say you're wrong, but perhaps I expected a little more tact from you in particular. It could well be that the colour is merely a coincidence. The civilization that made it might have used whatever sort of gemstone which was available, or it could just be artistic license; based on the construction of this place, they certainly don't seem very aesthetically inclined. Nevertheless, it is somewhat exciting, isn't it?"

Aura nodded in a more subdued way.

"Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed the writing, remarked Gravidus, gesturing toward the runic text chiselled beneath the mosaic. "If you're so inclined, you may come down here any time and attempt to decipher it."

Aura mused at the nonsensical symbols before her.

"What language is it?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," Gravidus replied, looking irritatingly smug about it. _It never ends, does it? _Aura thought to herself

"So you expect me to decipher an excerpt of a language I not only don't know, but also has at least half of its characters missing?" she asked, dismayed that she even had to ask such a pointless question.

"Of course not," the grey-brown dragon replied. "I'm sure Ms. Snout has some books on old languages, ask her to borrow some and see if any match up."

Suddenly, Gravidus' beaming smile faltered and slowly fell to a frown, his brow creasing as though in pain.

"I'm sorry, Aura," he coughed, "I'm sorry for not showing you this many years ago."

Tears began to stream down Gravidus' face and he turned away, refusing to look at Aura whilst quiet sobs filled the chamber.

Aura's smile also fell, but into an expression of confusion rather than sorrow. She remembered the iced over, abandoned entrance and realised it was true that Gravidus must have known of the mine's contents many years ago, probably before she was even hatched. Still, it wasn't exactly a big deal to her and she wasn't sure why it was to Gravidus.

"I thought- I thought it was just my responsibility... that I was keeping you safe," he continued. "That if you saw this you might go looking for answers, run away and put yourself in harm's way. Now I see that it was my own selfishness, that I was afraid of losing you... that I felt... guilty for being unable to save your mother."

Aura ran up to the big dragon and threw her front legs around him (or as much of him as she could) in a powerful hug, her scrawny wings embracing him tightly.

"Don't be so silly, Gravidus," she cooed. "None of that matters to me. You've only ever been kind to me, when in reality you didn't need to do any of this; its all been from the generosity of your own heart!"

Aura paused for a moment, feeling that Gravidus' sobs had subsided into shaky breath.

"So don't give me any of that!" Aura said slightly more assertively. "I know that whatever your reason, it was only because you cared, and you're not a bad person for caring... you're not a bad person at all... you're the most amazing person I know."

With this, Gravidus finally accepted her embrace, pulling her close with his right paw.

"Oh Aura, he laughed, batting the tears from his eyes. "You're going to make me cry again! You've grown to be such a fine dragoness, whatever did I do to deserve you?"

"It's so like you to worry about how much you worry about me, you big softie," Aura replied, chuckling herself. "I'd never leave you; you know that, right?"

"I realise that now and I realise how foolish it was for me to think otherwise."

The pair separated and after a moment regained their composure.

"Now I think it's time we got out of these ruins," Gravidus decided and Aura nodded her head.

XXX

The two dragons made their way back towards town, the open air refreshing despite its chill compared to the dark, stagnant air of the mine.

"Now we just need to find Solumon so I can tell him I'm leaving too," Gravidus explained as they climbed the final step into Eiraton proper.

"He's probably still _training_" Aura said disapprovingly.

Gravidus sighed.

"Yes, you're probably right."

They passed back through the town centre, the occasional passer-by offering morning's greetings to Gravidus, to which he universally responded with cheerful demeanour. A little past the centre, a wooden bridge crossed the stream that ran through the town and powered the cargo lift outside the entrance to the market place.

The elegance and efficiency of the lift's design was probably Aura's favourite part of Eiraton, at least it was probably the most unique part of it. The track ran all the way up the mountain and when one platform was at the bottom, water from the stream would fill a metal reservoir beneath the platform at the top, then when the weight was right, a lever would be pulled, releasing the lock and allowing the reservoir to drop, pulling the lower platform up via a pulley. Then when the reservoir reached the bottom, it would release the water back into the stream which continued its natural route. It was the main way for people and goods to get in and out of Eiraton, though there were also stairs for the flight incapable inhabitants in case of a breakdown.

Gravidus and Aura turned right, following the path adjacent to the bridge. There as expected, in the courtyard outside the cargo lift's squat stone maintenance building, stood the burly form of Gravidus' son Solumon. Like his father he was an earth dragon and they shared some minor physical similarities, such as their jagged triangular horns and wide forehead, but as far as Aura was concerned, that was where the similarities stopped. His dull green scales seemed stretched over his bulging muscles, muddy red plates almost bolted to his chest and belly and protrusions of the same colour emerging from various locations on his back. Extra counterweights for the cargo lift were strapped against his sides and he was performing an exercise in relative silence involving continuously standing up to his full impressive height (considering his age) and then setting himself down.

"Good morning Solumon," Gravidus offered. Solumon didn't stop for even a moment and remained staring straight down.

"What do you want?" he grunted.

"How're your duties at the maintenance building going?" the elder asked hopefully.

"The same as every day. I lifted some things and moved them somewhere else. I finished hours ago."

Gravidus sighed and got to the point.

"Well I shan't beat about the bush; I'm leaving today for a good while. I don't know when I'll be back."

"Good," Solumon stated. This infuriated Aura, but she said nothing.

"That means you won't be able to pester me about not joining the royal army next week," he concluded.

"Please Solumon," Gravidus pleaded. "I'm just asking you to hold out for a while. I know you've wanted this for a long time, but you haven't even entertained any other path. I'm just worried you haven't thought it through. When the recruitment party comes, please don't join just yet."

"I'm not you, _father_. Unlike you I know what I want, so why don't you just leave me alone."

A few moments of silence passed, throughout which Gravidus seemed to be considering something.

"Very well then, Aura. I'm leaving you in charge."

"What?" exclaimed Aura.

"What!?" exclaimed Solumon, shrugging off the weights and striding up to Gravidus.

"But I'm older!" he said angrily.

"Not by much, besides, what would be the point of putting you in charge when you're not going to be here in a week, right?" Gravidus turned to Aura, leaving Solumon seething.

"Well, I can't delay my leave any further, let's go."

Solumon now turned to Aura with a scowl.

"As if there's anything you could do to stop me," he said before turning back to his weights.

During the short walk back to the cargo lift, Aura felt anxious, but set that aside as they reached the platform. Aura noticed that Gravidus, ever prepared had already stacked his luggage there; several large cases, which as far as Aura could tell had to contain pretty much all of his personal belongings. _He must be travelling by train_ she thought.

"Don't worry about Solumon, Aura, you know how he can be. Just try to keep an eye on him."

Aura nodded and smiled.

"Goodbye Gravidus, I hope you come back soon!"

"I hope so too Aura, goodbye!" Gravidus pulled the lever and the platform slowly dropped down the mountainside. Aura stayed there for several minutes and watched until the platform was a mere spot in the distance and the second platform clunked into place at her left.

Abruptly her idleness was interrupted by a dragoness near tackling her from the side.

"So Gravidus is gone, you must be pretty worried," the cyan and grey-white dragoness whispered into her ear.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, 'Tina," Aura replied, squirming out of her grasp. "Yeah, I guess. I'm not really sure what I'll do now I won't be doing rounds with Gravidus. Plus I'm supposed to run the household now I think?"

"With Solumon? Pff, sounds rough," said Arctina. The ice dragoness stood a few inches taller than Aura and was slightly more muscular, her dark blue eyes punctuating the frill of smooth whitish horns around her head "Anyway, are you busy right now? It's pretty dull around here at the moment," Arctina continued.

"Oh, actually there is one more thing I had to do today," Aura remembered.

"Really? You didn't seem very busy when you were staring down the cliff for like five minutes," she teased. "Well, come see me when you have time then. I'm sooo boooored." said the ice dragoness before slinking back the way she came.

XXX

Ms. Snout was watering her miniature Jupiter Dragon Traps when she heard a knock on the door. Laying down the little watering can, she set the coal burner to keep the exotic plants warm and walked to the front of the house on her little mole legs. When she opened it, she was greeted by the familiar sight of a purple dragoness.

"Ah, hello Aura dearie, there're no lessons today, didn't Gravidus tell you?"

Aura nodded.

"Hello Ms. Snout, yes I know. Gravidus just said you might have some books on old languages I could borrow."

"Oh, well I might have a few in the study. Come along."

The small mole beckoned for Aura to follow and they made their way to the familiar room that smelt strongly of binding glue. The room was practically overflowing with books, making it seem smaller than it already was. Nevertheless they seemed to be ordered and each book had its place, even if there weren't quite enough shelves for all of them. Ms. Snout went about, picking a few out and handing them to Aura, who took them in one wing and put them over her back, using the other wing to hold them in place.

"Ah, here's an especially good one," the mole said, grabbing a thick old book bound in exquisite green leather and adorned with a beautiful winding gold font. "Oh, I remember reading it for the first time like it was yesterday."

Aura took the book and flipped the cover to look at the first few pages. What caught her attention was the hand-written note on the inside cover.

"For Juniper my love?" Aura read out loud, raising one eyebrow at her teacher.

"Yes, well you don't think everyone called me by my surname when I was a young 'un, do you?" Ms. Juniper Snout giggled.

"He was a nice young man. Not too bad on the eyes neither, but..." she tapped her snout mischievously with one claw. "In my experience there was always another handsome admirer in the not so distant future."

_Well_ _I could have comfortably gone my entire life without that piece of information_, thought Aura. The mole took the book and gazed at the note with a reminiscent smile.

"Course it didn't help that I was hopping around all over the world. A settled down life didn't suit me much, and now here I am without any of them. Not that it bothers me too much."

Ms. Snout handed the book back to the purple dragoness.

"Anyway I'm sure you've got more important things to do than listen to an old lady natter. It was nice to see you dearie."

"No, I enjoyed speaking to you outside of classes," Aura reassured her, then paused.

"Then again, I did tell Arctina I'd come see her as soon as I had time."

"Go on then, don't let me keep you."

Aura thanked her for the books and walked briskly out of the door, hooking it closed by the handle with the circular hole in the broader end of her S-cut half circle tailblade. Almost as soon as she'd left, she was stopped by an adult ice dragon.

"Ah Aura, do you know where Gravidus is? I need his help."

"Oh, uh... hi Permin" Aura began, suddenly feeling her tongue tie. Usually she didn't have much actual contact with the town's inhabitants since Gravidus did all the talking; she was mainly just an assistant.

"He's uh, he's going to Temple City. I mean, he left just a while ago. He won't be back... I mean he's not coming back for a while. I don't know how long," she mumbled, tripping over her own words. Suddenly a thought struck her mind.

"But if there's a problem maybe I can help!" she stated with renewed vigour.

"Ah, no, that's alright," the blueish dragon said awkwardly, completely failing to conceal his aversion to the idea. "I'm sure I'll manage on my own."

The adult dragon turned and went his way and so too did Aura, but as she headed towards Arctina's home, a determined spark flickered in her mind.

_That's right! If Gravidus can't be here to help the village, I'll have to do it myself. This is my chance. My chance to show them that I can be just as good a leader as him!_

_XXXXX_

_XXX_

_X_

_A/N: Wow, this chapter sure has been a long time coming. In retrospect I probably started this fic at a pretty bad time, but hopefully from now on you can expect more regular updates than none at all. _

_Thanks again for reading my chapter, and as always I'd love to hear your thoughts, so a review is very much appreciated. _

_I'd particularly like to know what you think of my characters; what impression do you get of their personalities? Where do you think the story is going?_

_Again, thanks to Telekinetic Moose for beta reading this chapter. TM does his own fanfiction occasionally, which you might like to check out (it's good, I swear)._

The next chapter will be titled "Betrayal". See you next time!


	3. Betrayal

Betrayal

Shrikethrush hated this city. The way it looked, from its gaudily decorated inner region to its shoddily constructed slums. The way it sounded, from the perpetual hum of steam pipes to the cacophonous bustle of the crowded streets. The lime scaled dragon took a sniff of the air and instantly scrunched up his nose in disgust. The way it smelt.

But the wall. The wall he hated most of all. Towering far above the nearby buildings, the sheer colourless barrier encircled everything, as if it were keeping the whole jam-packed city from flooding out. It was a perpetual reminder that he was trapped here, in this cage called Temple City.

Shrikethrush turned from the balcony, placing his grey-green gaze upon the decrepit room. The cracked plaster walls were caked with years of dirt, its woodworm plagued patchwork plank floor sparsely populated with nothing but a heavily stained mattress and a simple leather bag he had packed earlier. The windows didn't even keep the winter cold out, having been smashed weeks ago by vandals, and the landlord was too lazy or too cheap to replace them. Probably both.

Shrikethrush paced over to the bag and pulled out the object on top with his right paw and looked at it. A black and white photograph in a rectangular, gold painted frame. For a moment, he felt a surge of rage and considered smashing it right then. He tossed the photograph back in the bag and hefted the bag over his neck.

_It won't be long now._

The dragon walked through the room's thin door into an only slightly larger and more furnished room.

"Morning, Shrikey! You off already?" a chipper female voice came. Shrikethrush turned to the small blue dragoness sitting at the table on a drab but functional cushion, eating what looked like a decent attempt to revitalise a tin of pressed meat. He was surprised she'd managed to get it out of the cube-like shape it came in.

"Morning, Meri," he said, his previous scowl softening into a more amicable smile. "Yeah, I have that meeting with Cinis today, remember?"

"Oh yeah, it's this early, huh? Well say hi for me. It seems like she never visits anymore, Its been ages since I saw her."

"Sure, I'm sure she'll be pleased to hear it," replied Shrikethrush, but mentally noted that there was a good reason why Cinis didn't want to come to the place they lived at the moment. She did always look out for him...

"Hey, I've got something for you," he said, pulling something from his pack. "I'm sorry we couldn't afford anything for your birthday a few weeks back, but I found this cleaning gutters yesterday. It's a little damaged, but... well, you know... I hope you like it."

Shrike placed an old, battered looking book on the table. Despite its dampness and ripping spine, other than a few missing pages it seemed perfectly serviceable. Its faded cover identified it as a herbalism guide.

"Aww, thanks Shrikey, you're the best brother ever!" Meri got up to hug the greenish dragon, but suddenly collapsed in a fit of violent, rasping coughs. Shrikethrush quickly moved forward to support her weight, clutching her close with outstretched forelegs, his face fraught with concern. Attentively he held her paw and noticed it was covered in blood.

"Have you taken your medicine?" he asked once the coughing had died down, releasing her to stand on her own.

"Honestly, I'm fine Shrikey, it's getting better" the young dragoness attempted to assure him, though the chirp of her voice was gone, replaced by a pained inflection.

"Answer the question," replied Shrikethrush insistently.

"I'm... sorry," Meri conceded ashamedly. "It ran out the day before yesterday. I should have told you, but..."

"But what Meri? You need to keep taking it."

"But you're working yourself too hard!" she blurted, averting her eyes from her brother's stern gaze. "You're out all day working, you don't eat, you barely sleep. I don't want to see you suffering like this because of me.

Shrikethrush let out a weary sigh, but then smiled and ruffled the fin-like frills on the water dragoness' head, startling her.

"Hey, don't you worry about me; I'm not the one who's sick."

"But..."

"No buts. You can worry about me all you want when you're better, but until then just let me worry about you, okay? I'll get another bottle later today."

Meri's expression didn't change, but reluctantly she nodded her head.

"Okay, but... promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"Heh, isn't that a bit rich coming from someone who won't take their medicine?" the green dragon jested. "I'm not exactly going to kill someone for a bit of medicine, am I?"

"That's not what I mean, but I know you. When it comes down to it, you can be very... well..." Meri trailed off. "Just promise, okay?"

"Fine, if it'll stop you fretting, I promise."

They hugged and Shrikethrush went to leave

Half way to the door, he turned to say one last thing.

"Oh and don't you think you're pulling this again. This time I'm checking to make sure you've taken it."

"Yes, Shrikethrush" Meri droned, flipping open her new book to the first page.

Shrikethrush pushed the door just far enough ajar that he could fit through and stepped out, swiftly locking the door behind him. Seeing that the staircase was clear, he made his way down as silently as he could manage on the creaky stairs.

_She's more observant than I'd given her credit for. Or maybe it really was that obvious? Could it be she really suspects... no. There's no way._

Just as he was about to leave through the whitewashed front door, an obnoxious grating voice came from his side, inducing an annoyed sight from Shrikethrush.

"Hey Little, I thought I heard you!"

_Little._

When Shrikethrush was younger, he'd been a scrawny mite of a dragon, and much to his annoyance, people had come to call him "Little" Shrikethrush. Even now that he was only slightly shorter than the average dragon of his age, the nickname had stuck and it seemed like everyone knew it.

The door in the passageway to his right swung open to reveal a somewhat overweight, ratty looking ferret. Dirty patches of matted fur poked through the gaps in his ill-fitting, unwashed suit. He only had one and he always wore it as a symbol of mock status. Even though he was only a small-time property owner in the lower-class side of town, Wormtail considered himself a top cat and did everything in his power to convince his acquaintances this was the truth, including charging extortionate rent from his tenants.

Shrikethrush glanced at the large patches of sweat that had seeped through the armpits of Wormtail's suit. He wasn't fooling anyone.

Wormtail stroked his his whiskers with a greedy smile, his other hand fondling a leather purse that jingled with every disturbance, likely full of the coins he'd just finished squeezing from the downstairs occupants.

"Little, my friend, I can't help but notice I still don't have my rent."

Shrikethrush snarled. He wasn't sure if Wormtail kept calling him that to anger him, or if he just couldn't take a hint.

"You'll have your money tomorrow," he replied coldly.

"Well it's funny you should say that, because I could've sworn that's what you told me yesterday," said the ferret impatiently.

"Tomorrow."

Wormtail growled under his breath, but nevertheless went to leave via the front door.

"You'd better have it tomorrow, or I might not be so friendly."

As the door swung shut, Shrikethrush let out a sharp annoyed breath and then left himself. This time it wasn't a lie that he'd be able to pay tomorrow. He'd have the money one way or the other.

* * *

Cinis sat smiling by the corner of Ironflow street. Vacantly she hummed an old show tune from her youth as she watched people pass by on their way to and fro. Dragons, moles, cheetahs, badgers. Mercheants, machinists, paupers and all. Cinis had had lived in this city all her life and to say it wasn't perfect was an understatement, but it did have its own individual charm; gritty and raw, but alive and beautiful. People from all over the realms came here for one reason or another and it was the kind of place where anyone from any background could make some kind of living for themselves. She herself was proof of that.

Savouring the unusual scent of fried somethings passing by on a vendor's cart, she caught sight of a familiar green dragon.

"Hey Shrikethrush, over here!" she exclaimed loudly, gesturing him over with her wing and drawing several turned heads from the bustling citizens in the area.

"Good morning master Cinis," the young dragon replied, pacing up to her. The gesture was unnecessary, since he'd spotted her instantly from a good distance; her brilliant orange scales contrasted vividly with the grimey grey brick wall she sat before.

Shrikethrush scratched behind his yellowish, serpent-like horns nervously.

"Do you think it would kill you to be a little more subtle?" He said, eyeing the various other occupants of the streets.

"Oh, worried about spies are we?" replied Cinis, playfully nudging him. "Don't you know the best way to spot eavesdroppers is to draw attention to yourself? Because everyone's looking, they think they can too and let their guard down."

Her eyes scanned the crowd nimbly whilst she continued:

"Then the one who's still looking when no-one else is..." Her eyes locked with another dragon sitting at a table across the street who quickly averted his gaze.

"That's your man," she concluded, frowning as the dragon stood up and walked around the corner. "Besides," she said, suddenly more serious, "They already know who I am."

Shrikethrush twirled to face where she was looking but was too late. The green scaled dragon growled annoyedly. "Well if it's that easy we should chase after them and fight!"

Cinis shook her head dismissively, cutting through the lightly smoggy air with her asymmetrical G-shaped golden horns.

"They're honourless cowards who hide amongst the common people. We've never caught them in such a way and I doubt we ever will."

Shrikethrush huffed at this response.

"Come on, let's go somewhere more private. I do have some sensitive information I'd rather we kept from our disreputable friends," the orange dragoness concluded and they began to walk. They turned down an alley and travelled further toward the industrial district. After only a few more moments, Cinis regained her more cheerful disposition.

"Well, I should say that technique I just showed you might not work so well for you. A handsome young dragon like yourself, I'm sure you get plenty of stares as it is," she chuckled.

Shrikethrush grimaced at this.

"Hey come on, I don't want to hear that from someone old enough to be my mother,"

Despite himself, he couldn't help blushing a little.

"Hey, I am **not** that old," Cinis snapped. "Besides, I like to think I'm more like your cool older sister," she said, posing in a way she may have thought emphasised her "coolness" but was more likely just to mess with him.

"Well, you're definitely one of those three words," Shrikethrush muttered.

"See, there's your sense of humour," Cinis laughed and Shrikethrush smiled too.

"I guess I'm one of the few lucky enough to know you have other expressions than a scowl."

That being said, the younger dragon's face was quick to return to a frown. He looked back at her with grave eyes.

"Speaking of sisters... Cinis, Meri's sickness isn't getting better."

The fire dragoness shook her head with concern.

"Is the medicine not helping?"

"It is, but on top of rent and food, we can't afford it. That's what I wanted to talk about; I need an advance on my monthly pay, otherwise... I don't need to be a doctor to tell it'll be bad."

Cinis inhaled sharply between her teeth, her brow knitting in consternation.

"To be honest, you've asked at a really bad time. The treasury's in a real mess at the moment, we're having to cut down expenses everywhere and..." she saw Shrikethrush's determined look and considered.

"You know what? I'll see what I can do. I'm sure we can find something."

"Thanks Cinis, this really means a lot to me, and I'll be sure to pay you back after."

"It's no problem. You know I'm always here for the two of you."

They made a turning into a secluded, cramped alley with overhanging buildings blocking the light. They made one turning, then another and another. Shrikethrush was confident that no-one could have possibly followed such a convoluted route. In this area, the cityscape was made up exclusively of workshops and warehouses with corrugated steel roofs and billowing chimneys that made the mid-morning smog especially thick. Though the sounds of shouts and hammering metal could be heard echoing from nearby streets, their immediate vicinity was vacant of any workers. It seemed that the surrounding buildings were all fairly recently abandoned. The perfect place if they didn't want to be seen.

Finally they came to a stop beside a red brick building that looked no different from those around it, save for a few extra bronze steam pipes that protruded from its front. The heavy iron doors were locked shut, but Cinis wasn't interested in the doors. Quickly she turned a circular handle on one of the larger pipes. It must have been some kind of quick release, as the entire section of pipe came free, swinging away from the wall on wall-mounted hinges, revealing an improvised circular entrance to the inner building.

Shrikethrush peeked into the dark, claustrophobic pipe.

"I'm not going in there," he stated plainly.

"Well excuse me, princess," Cinis mocked, gesturing for him to back away, which he promptly did.

With barely a breath, Cinis spewed a colossal torrent of searing flame, instantly melting away a significant portion of the inner pipe, creating a convenient doorway that only smouldered a little around the edges.

She sighed and blew a puff of smoke from her nose. Shrikethrush supposed the smell of fire and molten metal wouldn't be noticed in such a place.

The elder dragoness stepped brazenly through and Shrikethrush followed more tentatively, careful not to singe himself and making sure to re-seal the pipe behind him.

Entering the building proper, he observed the contents of the room. At a glance it was obviously a steam production factory. Gigantic horizontal cast iron cylinders – boilers – dominated the floor, with bronze pipes of varying sizes sprawling from outlets sporting valves and pressure gauges. Suspended on the floor above were large water tanks and distributed around the walls were empty, black stained skips that were presumably used for coal storage. The floor itself was all iron grates and water channels carved into stone, designed to stop water accumulating by draining it into the sewers below. Shrikethrush thought it somewhat frivolous to waste good steam water, but he wasn't here to question their business practices. It was too perfect.

"Okay, so let's start with your report as usual and then we can move on to my news," said Cinis, initiating their formal meeting. Shrikethrush nodded and began his report.

"Its been mostly quiet the past week or so. No sightings or direct mentionings, but I did hear something that could be connected to them. I was working cleaning shifts at the Sunken Steamboat and I overheard one of the patrons talking about an unusual order of steel. Apparently they'd received orders of several grades of steel in mass amounts to be shipped to an out of the way area outside of the city. It sounded like a dead drop to me so I tailed him back to his house and on the next day to the steelworks itself. It's called Ardarm Brothers and co."

"Hmm, that's interesting. It sounds a little conspicuous for them, but on the other hand they could be getting reckless," Cinis pondered. "It might be nothing, but if the Brotherhood needs a lot of steel, it could be a good lead. I'll send someone to check it out when we get time. Nice work."

She cleared her throat and continued.

"Now on to the main course! The big news is that for the first time in over 20 years, the dragon heads are re-uniting! Here in Temple City, only one week from now!" She flashed a brilliant toothy grin and handed him an envelope.

"The exact location is in here. Secret, of course, so destroy it once you're done memorising it."

Shrikethrush nodded and accepted the letter, tucking it in his leather bag.

"Oh, I can't wait for you to meet everyone," Said Cinis elatedly. "I bet you and old Dusky will get along like a house slowly burning; he's a no-fun serious-face too. It'll be just like old times, I bet none of them have changed a bit!"

"But why now? Why choose to meet now after so long?" asked Shrikethrush, ignoring the not so subtle jab.

"Hmm," the elder dragoness replied. "Well, I'd like to be optimistic and say it's because we finally have a good way to strike back at the Brotherhood, but... I'm afraid to say it's more likely that we're running out of ideas. The fact that there's been less activity recently probably means they're planning something, but we have no idea what, so it might be time to pool all our resources and try to figure out what we can, no matter the risk."

Shrikethrush tapped the ground impatiently with a claw, a look of muted distress etched upon his face.

"Hey, it isn't so bad," Cinis reassured him. "I know it might seem hopeless, but we've been fighting the Brotherhood for centuries. This is nothing we can't handle."

"Yeah, I guess you're right... hey, I've got something for you," Shrikethrush reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a black glass bottle. "To thank you, for all you've done for us."

"Aww, thanks sweetie!" said Cinis, accepting the bottle gratefully. "Oooh, and it's rouge, how did you know?"

"Hah, I wouldn't expect you to remember that particular occasion," he replied slyly. "Can you try it? Just so I know how good it is before you forget that too?"

"Oh, well I shouldn't, I **am** on duty after all. Then again, I'm sure just a taste wouldn't hurt."

Shrikethrush watched as she popped the cork from the top and began raising it to her mouth.

"What if you did catch one of them?" Shrikethrush blurted. "What if you could find out where they were?"

Cinis stopped and sighed.

"Shrikethrush dear, I know it's frustrating to wait, but it's just not possible. It's common practice for the Brotherhood to carry cyanide pills, and even then the lower ranked members are several layers removed from anyone significant in the chain of command. It might offer a short term advantage for us, but in the end we still have to wait, anticipate and react when they make their moves. It's the fate of anyone whose purpose is to defend rather than attack."

"And there's no way we can get any kind of public support."

"The more people who know about us, the more we become common knowledge, and as soon as that happens, we're instantly in more danger. Not to mention we can't afford to have the ulterior motives of the elders or the royals weighing down on us."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Shrikethrush sighed, casting his gaze to the floor dejectedly.

Cinis took a sip from the bottle and her face scrunched up.

"Hmm, it's a little bitter," she commented.

The green dragon chuckled half-heartedly and looked up wearily.

"You know, I did have a run in with the Brotherhood about a week ago," he stated.

"Really?" Cinis exclaimed, "What happened?"

"They came to our home, Cinis. They know about me."

"But how? We were so careful," Cinis deliberated.

"Were you?" Shrikethrush asked accusingly. "You knew full well they'd figured out who you were, but you still had no qualms meeting with me. You were never careful enough and that's your biggest weakness."

Cinis eyed the bottle.

"Hold on, you can't afford wine... you're broke, you said so yourself... Shrikethrush, you didn't-"

"You'd have done better to not let a poison dragon handle your drinks," he muttered resignedly. "The way I see it, I have two choices. Continue feeding them low level information and hope they don't decide to kill me and Meri once they lose interest in me, or prove myself to them."

Cinis went to move, but her limbs burnt beneath her and she found she was unable to support herself, collapsing to the ground. She attempted to call out, but her lungs wouldn't expand and all she could manage was a pathetic wheeze.

"No-one will hear you. You know that. You picked this spot for that reason."

"Shrike...thrush. You should've... told me," she rasped, reaching towards him with the edges of her vision blurring. "I could have... protected you."

"No, Cinis. You couldn't even protect yourself. A war is coming. The brotherhood has an army, they've shown me. And what do you have? You've shown yourself to be the weaker side, and if I'm going to protect Meri, I need to be on the winning side, not the side that can't even afford to act on their own knowledge. Not the side that's too soft to even notice the dissension in their ranks."

"Shrikethrush... I... trusted... you..." the slumped dragoness whimpered as blood began to obscure her eyes.

"And that was your first mistake," he replied, as Cinis' body went limp, and never moved again.

Shrikethrush dragged the corpse over one of the metal grates in the floor and closed his eyes, focussing his energy into a single point, which he brought up through is neck and ejected from his mouth as a concentrated glob of acidic green ooze that landed on Cinis' brilliant orange scales, beginning to eat away at them immediately.

As the volatile substance spread slowly across her body, the dissolved flesh dripped through the grate, until barely anything remained. The only parts resistant enough to withstand the acidity for any length of time were the horns. Before they could be broken down, Shrikethrush reached down and plucked one from the ground. These golden horns, with such unusual asymmetry. Cinis had told him before that they'd made her a target for a great deal of insults and bullying when she was younger. Turning this one in his paw, in a way it was quite beautiful.

Shrikethrush heaved and had to plant his feet more firmly as he vomited violently, the putrid bile mixing with with the dissolved sludge of his former friend.

Stowing the horn in his bag, he went to leave this dreadful place, but noticed the framed photograph he'd placed in there earlier. Finding he couldn't stomach this either, he threw it on the ground, the glass shattering instantly. As Shrikethrush left, shutting the pipe behind him, the acid reached the edge of the frame and in seconds the image of a smiling family was no more.

* * *

Shrikethrush turned a corner and was confronted by a group of hooded dragons. Their darkened faces and unclear, cloaked forms made for a sinister impression.

"What do you have to report to us?" The dragon in the centre asked unceremoniously.

"Cinis is dead and I can tell you the locations of all the other members of the Dragon Head."

The cloaked figures flinched, taken aback by the unexpected development. For a few moments they whispered among one another.

"And your proof?" the middle dragon came again, presumably the spokesperson of the group.

Shrikethrush withdrew the distinctive horn from his bag and threw it upon the ground. The cloaked figures were clearly impressed.

"And this details the location of the meeting point of the Dragon Heads in one week from today, but you'll need me to decipher it," continued Shrikethrush, brandishing the sealed letter. "I only have one condition."

"And what's that?" the unknown dragon replied cautiously.

"Let me join you and serve your cause."

His mouth was the only part of the dragon Shrikethrush could see, and now it twisted into a many-toothed smile.

"Very well then, welcome to the Brotherhood of Shadows."

* * *

_A/N:_

_Once again this took me longer than I'd hoped, but it's an improvement at least. Maybe one day I'll get to the point where my readers don't have to re-read the entire story every time a new chapter comes out to remember what story they're even reading :P_

_There'll probably be a lot of chapters like this from the POVs of side-characters whilst I set up the plot, but don't worry, it won't be a different character *every* chapter (I say, having written three chapters from the perspective of three different characters)._

_I feel like I'm definitely getting more used to writing in this format, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see what you guys think._

_Thanks as usual to Telekinetic Moose for being my beta reader, and thank you for reading!_

_Feel free to leave a review; I always love to hear what you guys think, and I got some really encouraging messages last time, so thanks for that!_

_The next chapter will be "Cold Feet" and we'll be getting back to Aura and co, so see you next time!_


End file.
